It is well known to provide sanitary fittings for use in processing, manufacturing and/or handling liquid food products and pharmaceutical products. Such sanitary fittings are typically used to connect piping and equipment such as pumps, tanks, filters, valves, heat exchangers, fillers, etc. One example of a typical sanitary fitting includes two ferrules (one each on two adjacent components to be connected), a gasket disposed between the ferrules, and a clamp that fits over the ferrules and is secured around the ferrules. Most clamps in such typical sanitary fittings include a bolt pivotally mounted to a lower half of the clamp by a pin, and a wing nut mounted on the bolt. The bolt is rotated into a slot on the upper half of the clamp and the wing nut is tightened to secure clamp over the ferrules and gasket.
However, such known sanitary fittings have a number of disadvantages. For example, a certain amount of friction usually exists between the wing nut and the bolt, and between the wing nut and the upper half of the clamp as the wing nut is tightened on the bolt. The degree of friction at these two interfaces tends to vary greatly from one application to another, which often results in an inconsistent amount of compression applied by the clamp to the ferrules and gasket. The inconsistent compression often leads to misalignment of the ferrules and/or gasket and leakage at the fitting. Attempts to correct such leakage usually lead to over-tightening the clamp which tends to damage the nut, bolt, gasket and/or clamp and further exacerbate the leakage. Such conventional clamps are also typically time-consuming to install and repair.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a clamp assembly that overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional clamps. It would also be desirable to provide a clamp assembly that is easily and quickly installed and that provides a more consistent amount of compression of the fitting components. It would be further advantageous to provide a clamp assembly having an off-center rotatable cam that provides a progressive wedging interaction with a tactile indication that the desired amount of compression of the fitting components has been achieved.